What is Population Health Management

In a society, people are influenced by other people living there. Our life is interdependently weaved with everyone else. The linkage between people applies to the field of healthcare as well. An individual’s wellbeing depends on his or her surroundings – the habitat, the hygiene and lifestyle habits.

Traditionally, healthcare and personal wellbeing was viewed independently with little or no correlation to outside circumstances. However with time, the traditional model of providing healthcare has proved costly and ever increasing year-on-year.

This has led to a model of providing healthcare in a cohesive and integrated manner. Population Health Management is defined as the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group.

The objective of Population Health Management is to

Improve the QUALITY OF CARE

Increased CARE COORDINATION

Provide CONTINOUS CARE

The population group can be as small as employees of a company to as large as entire communities. The concept of Population Health Management takes into account the vast disparities that exist including social, environmental, cultural and physical.

The goals of Population Health Management can also be stated in terms of the health group that is being provided with care:

Healthy – The goal is to ensure healthy people remain the same. This can be achieved through preventive tests, health monitoring activities and awareness programs.

Risk –People identified as part of the risk group are provided with counselling and encouraged to adopt a healthier lifestyle. This includes periodic health checkups, motivational sessions, interventions to prevent further complications etc.

Chronic – The chronic group is the most critical of the lot as they already have medical needs. The primary goal is to prevent further complications. Through detailed evaluation and comprehensive care coordination, the goal is to bring down the fatality rates associated with such groups.